Build and develop Icesus

Join an active volunteer team developing Icesus, a free multiplayer text RPG with players online day and night. Creators write areas, quests, characters and items for wizard review. Wizards also develop game systems, run events and help maintain the game.

For area building, Icesus Creator provides a visual map, room editor and playtest mode. For coding and wider development, follow the wizard application path.

Discuss an idea in #creator Become a wizard Open Icesus Creator

You sign in to Creator with your game character and can start building once a wizard approves your area plan. You can join #creator on Discord while you are still learning the game.

Icesus Creator

Lay out an area on a visual map, connect its rooms, and write what players discover. Add monsters, NPCs, items, weapons and armour, then shape their descriptions and behaviour in the editor.

Writing fields and settings sit alongside the game code they control, so you can see how your area works. You can begin with the visual controls and learn more as you build.

Icesus Creator showing connected rooms on the Frosthollow Road area map, with the selected room's exits and settings in an inspector.
The area map. Arrange rooms, follow their connections and open a room to edit it. Full size.
The room editor with editable descriptions inside the room's source, writing tools and a preview of what a player sees.
The room editor. Write descriptions, add details players can examine and preview the room as a player sees it. Full size.
An example area plan for the Frosthollow Road, describing its setting, intended players, location, inhabitants and size.
The area plan. It describes the setting, who the area is for, where it sits, who lives there and how big it is. Full size.

The screenshots show an example area, the Frosthollow Road, in progress.

Open Icesus Creator

From plan to finished area

Start with a small place that has a reason to exist. It teaches the whole process, from the first description to how the area plays.

  1. Talk it through and make a plan

    Share your idea in #creator. Describe the place, who it is for, where it belongs, who lives there and roughly how big it will be. Submit an area plan in Creator for a wizard to review before building begins.

  2. Build the rooms and their inhabitants

    Once the plan is approved, connect rooms on the map and write their descriptions and the details players can examine. Add inhabitants, dialogue, encounters and equipment using the game’s existing systems.

  3. Playtest it

    Save your work, run the checks and use Playtest to walk through the area in the game. Follow every exit, try the conversations and encounters, and check the rewards. Revise what feels confusing or unfinished, then test it again.

  4. Submit it for review

    Record your playtest results and submit the finished area for wizard review. Work through feedback on writing, design and balance. Approved areas then open to players.

Build for an active community

Icesus has been growing since 1995, with an active playerbase and wizard team. Your area joins a world people already explore and a development team that keeps improving it. See who is online and read the latest updates.

Your monsters, items and quests use the game’s existing combat, equipment and character systems, and you build alongside other creators and wizards.

Guide: how to build a game world

How to become a creator

Join our Discord and find #creator. Introduce yourself, ask about the tool and tell us what you would love to build. You do not need a finished proposal to say hello.

Start playing and reach player level 25. Play enough to learn what makes an area good to visit, then talk with us about your first area plan.

Becoming a wizard is a separate path, for wider building and development work. The volunteering page describes it.

Join Discord · find #creator Play in Browser

New to text games? Start with the guide to playing a MUD.

Become a wizard

Wizards design areas, quests and monsters, code guilds and game systems, run events and welcome new players. This is a long-term volunteer role. Good written English, ideas that fit Icesus and time to follow work through review matter. Some coding experience helps; the team can teach you LPC.

  1. Play Icesus and learn its world. Applicants normally need a level 25 character; exceptions exist for mudlib or systems work.
  2. Meet wizards through the in-game coding channel and find a sponsor for your application.
  3. Your sponsor guides you through the formal process. Read help wizzing in the game for the full requirements.
Ask about wizard development Meet the team on Discord

Other ways to help

You can contribute while you are still learning the game. Help another player, improve a wiki page, or share a clear bug report or accessibility issue.

Interested in programming? Wizards also extend the game in LPC. See how to become a wizard and our building guides.